Sonata Rondo
by Vegeta the 3rd
Summary: --Rondo of Swords-- Serdic never thought he would have the chance to live on after his kingdom was invaded. His double, however, was intent to see that he lived on, for his sister's sake.
1. Save the Prince

Sonata Rondo

Chapter 1: Save the Prince

* * *

The Prince of Bretwalde leaned against his sword, stuck firmly into the ground. Gasps of air escaped his mouth; dry blood smeared his face and armor, along with a wound to his side that was just fresh. The once shining blue blade of Spanta has been dulled to a mere metallic luster. It must symbolize the end of the poor prince's life.

Around him lay countless dead bodies, all in red orange armor, killed and cut in the most common ways of the sword. They were all from the country of Grand Meir, the invaders. At least he knew who was their enemy, and he may have won this fight, but to what end? How did they get here in the first place?

Slowly, the Prince fell down and lost grip of the sword. He knew his time was coming; he had a feeling he wasn't going to make out this castle alive. He could only hope that at least his double made it-

"Prince Serdic!"

_Speak of the devil_, Serdic thought bitterly. He could see him already; in light blue armor, his features could be so identical to his; same eye color, same hair color and style, even the same voice, it was enough to fool his most trusted vassals. The only one who saw through this ruse was King Elliot, but alas, his father is dead. And soon he will be joining him. Ironic it had to be the day of his funeral.

"Your wounds…" his double spoke in shock. He rushed to his side and held his body. "Don't worry, Prince! Just hold on!"

The Prince shook his head, gazing to the other's eyes. "Forget about me…" He gazed around the bodies before him. They wouldn't normally get into the castle without some help. "The important thing is that it seems the Empire isn't our only enemy."

His eyes darkened in quick realization. "I can't believe that they…" he stopped to a coughing fit.

The double, however, was confused. "'They'? What are you talking about?"

The Prince ignored his answer and reached for his sword. With some effort, he pulled it out. "Take this…"

The other blonde did so. Once it was in his hands, he gazed upon it and gasped. "Is this… Spanta…?! But it is Bretwalde's royal emblem! I can't accept this!"

"Just take it… and go…"

"What?! Why?"

The Prince felt himself grow weaker already. "It's better that you take it. I won't need it… where I'm going…"

"What… you can't mean…? You're not serious!"

The prince coughed up a laugh. "I'm afraid I am…" His eyes closed with some remorse. "It's too late for me…"

The double was silent, not sure what to say. What could one say to one who is about to die; someone who he worshipped as a great man and friend?

"When I first found you… passed out with such terrible wounds…" Serdic spoke. "It was… surprising to think… that there was someone in the world with such an uncanny resemblance to me…

"I would surely have been done for without your help, my Prince." The other blonde spoke with a smile. He stared up to the stained glass ceiling decorating the castle, shining down with such beauty, even on a tragic day such as this.

"I don't remember anything of what my past life was like," he continued. "My wounds were grave enough to bode ill for my future. Had I not have met you, your Highness… I do not know what would have become of me."

The Prince smiled sadly. "You returned the favor many times over as the role of my double. I'm grateful for that."

"I-I merely did what was natural, Prince Serdic!" The other blonde spoke with some embarrassment.

If he wasn't so close to death, Serdic would have laughed. He appreciated such modesty from the man who shared his face. They never knew each other long, but each acted like the other's brother. It was painful to force this all on someone who had lesser experience than himself, but he was the only one he could trust…

"I have… one last request... Would you… listen?"

"Yes, my Prince!"

"Become me once again… and save Bretwalde in my stead."

He heard the double gasp out. "But…"

"You noticed, haven't you?" Serdic spoke, glancing at the sword. "It's lost its glow. During the battle here, the Holy Blade was cursed. Bretwalde cannot be saved without Spanta. Please, for all our sakes… find a way to remove this curse."

Seeing the Prince stare at him with such conviction and pleading, the other blonde couldn't say no. "I… understand."

"Oh, and if you should ever meet my sister…" An image a young girl, smiling as bright as the sun, flashed in his mind's eye. "If you should ever find Marie… look after her for me…"

The double was surprisingly silent hearing that, but Serdic toke it as a yes.

"And one more thing…" said the Prince. "As a Bretwaldean Knight… and as royalty… give me an honorable death."

The double gasped.

"Now go…" The Prince said, hearing the drawbridge open. Already the Grand Meir Knights were storming in, looking for any survivors. "You must make haste, or you'll lose your chance to escape."

The double was silent, staring at the floor, unsure what to do. After sheathing the sword to his left thigh, his face shot up, his eyes held such determination unseen to Serdic before. Without warning, he scooped up the Prince and heaved him over his back.

"W-what are you doing?!" Serdic shout in shock. "I said forget about me! You'll never…" From here, he started coughing. "You'll... never escape with the both of us!"

"I understand that you wish for me to cleanse the blade and save the kingdom in your place." The double spoke. Already he was rushing to the castle gate. "But lying to your sister? I can't live with myself to pretend that I'm all that's left of her family."

"You must! It's…for the good of the country!" Serdic was already staring to feel light headed; any more movement and he may die sooner than expected.

Sadly, it fell on deaf ears. "I believe there's still a chance for you to live on, my Prince! And I'm not going to give up on you! Not now!"

The soldiers were nowhere to see the two of them, which made Serdic feel some relief. Little did the idiot know, is that the enemy didn't know that he was dead yet. His double was to assume his role and save the legacy of the kingdom, even if it was a fake. Down with Marie's feelings; this was for her own sake too. If they kingdom saw both of them, everything would be ruined, especially when the true heir's death was known to the public. Too bad he was too weak to say any of it. He was already losing strength just yelling at him to drop him.

"You saved my life before, Prince." He heard the double say a little later. "And you did it because you wanted to. I'm doing the same for yours; because _I _want to."

Unconsciously, Serdic's lips twitched into a small smile, before he started to close his eyes.

"Take care of Bretwalde… and Marie…" He said, before he lost himself into a deep sleep.

* * *

AN: Ok, this is a story I wanted to work on ever since beating the game Rondo of Swords for the DS. I'm still doing Naruto & Arashi, it's just I wanted to try something else that hasn't been done yet.

If anyone is concerned of the title name, Sonata Rondo is basically a combination of the two forms Sonata and Rondo in one, so like Serdic is the Sonata, and the other Serdic (main character) is the Rondo, at least that's what I believe.


	2. Fight or Flight

Sonata Rondo

Chapter 2: Fight or Flight

A red haired knight galloped his horse through the deserted streets of Egvard. There were more enemy soldiers then he had anticipated. His entire squadron was overwhelmed by the sheer number and prowess of the soldiers, and defeated them all so swiftly.

Even Captain Gregory had fallen.

He was a strong and proud soldier; showing great strength and wisdom through the time he had spent here becoming a knight. He was amazing whenever he rode to battle on his trusted steed. Nothing could possibly stop him. That is, until about five of the knights ganged up on him and thrashed him all around. Even someone as Gregory's caliber couldn't handle that many all at once.

Normally, he would be his stubborn self and immediately rush off to help his commander and comrades in anyway he could, but his captain's voice stopped him otherwise. "Save the prince," he had said. If he had fallen, then so would Bretwalde. That didn't stop him from feeling anguished from losing his comrades, but he followed his captain's last orders all the same.

If anything came out of this, it was keeping the citizen's safe. None of the knights stormed into houses, but rather marched towards the castle and kill any resisting soldiers. At least these soldiers had mercy on their soldiers for the unarmed.

"Kay? Is that you?"

Startled out of his wits, Kay violently pulled back on his reins, his horse crying and raising on its back legs, while trying to turn around. As the horse stomped back down, the red haired knight was just about ready to ride and strike whoever called him out, but he soon realized it was just a familiar face.

His pale green armor and round shield were very familiar, but what really convinced him were his facial features. Dark green hair topping his scalp, a face aged with wisdom and a love for women, along with a scar across his cheek, not at all different to Kay's own scar under his left eye.

Recognizing his fellow comrade, the white knight smiled. "Ah, Margus. You scared me there."

Margus returned the smile. "I could see that. Though I'm glad you're still alright."

A patrol knight who was rushing through the streets stopped, looking back to see Kay and Margus standing idly through an empty street. "There they are!" No sooner did he say that, more knights came and followed him. The two knights idly noted they carried a banner of a black lion crest on their left shoulder pads.

Margus cursed, stepping back. "They're too many for us! We must pull back!" And with that, the two of them ran off the opposite direction, as the knights followed.

"Now what do we do?" Kay asked, still riding away on his horse.

"If anything, we must at least try to save the Crown Prince. I doubt even he could survive this battle on his own."

"And if he isn't?" Kay asked.

Margus's face grimaced, thinking of the worst. "Then we must at least get the Holy Sword to Marie, in any hopes in preserving the Holy Bretwalde bloodline."

After feeling they were safe (for now), Serdic's double laid the prince down and tended to his wounds. They were much worse than he had feared, cutting deep into his flesh and bone. The most evident one was on the left of his ribcage, slowing down on gushing blood. It was a wonder he was still alive, if only barely. No wonder the Prince thought he would perish this day.

_Not if I have anything to say about it, though. _The double thought.

He had some simple recovery valves he carried just before this invasion started, feeling he would need it in case he faced injury. Seeing the Prince's need was more than his own, he forced the contents of the valves to help heal him. After several minutes, the wounds started to close up, leaving only dry blood stains on his person.

At least he won't die. Not yet, anyway.

The double knew that unless the Prince saw immediate attention from a healer, he would indeed die. And so would he unless he found help. Perhaps he should have listened to him and just left him there.

The double shook his head. That wasn't right either, to leave the life of a man who saved his own. And what if he did fool everyone he was the real prince? What then? How long could he have kept up that charade? Sure, he had done it at least once or twice when running errands or little pranks, but this was like trying to force the prince's entire life onto his shoulders.

But this was just a big of a risk. If everyone knew that there were two Serdics, what's left of Bretwalde's people would be in mass hysteria, not knowing he had a twin or not. Also, if the real prince were to be dead, it would drastically decrease their morale, and risk the princess to be next. At least if he would to fake being the prince he would give the people false hope long enough to potentially win back against Grand Meir.

"I had a feeling that things weren't going to be easy once I made this decision," He said to the unconscious form of the Bretwalde Prince. "But I won't give up. The troops need you more than me."

"Prince Serdic!"

Serdic's double exhaled the breath he didn't know he had. It was Sir Kay's voice! To him, it was relieving news to know that at least one of the prince's vassals was still alive and fighting.

Lifting up the Prince's body to lean on his back, he hurried over the direction of the voice. His body was feeling lighter, excited to find help and rescuing. Now Serdic's life can be saved.

When he turned the corner of the street, not only did he find Kay, but Margus as well. But they lacked to express the same joy he once held. Instead, their faces were shocked and speechless.

It was Margus who spoke first, but his confusion was very evident in his words. "Prince… Serdic?"

Before the blonde man could speak, Kay pointed his spear at Serdic's face, mere inches from poking his nose tip. "Who are you and what have you done to the Prince?" he exploded.

The double suddenly realized what was wrong. They saw a prince carrying another prince, thinking that he was some sort of double-ganger assassin. He thought it was much like Kay to react like this, but it was a bit too much. With the prince likely dead, and his vassals ready to kill him on the spot, things couldn't get any worse.

"Halt, Bretwaldeans!"

Cursing his luck, Serdic turned to see more Grand Meir troops now surrounding them. Foot soldiers and heavy knights guarded all areas with pride and superiority, but that was nothing compared to the man leading them. Clad in black armor, the man rode in with a black steed, decorated in a purple cloth over its shoulders. The man's cape flowed as his horse slowly stepped forward, fluttering with the light breeze. His face was calm and stern, with a long strip of black hair falling over his dark, brown eyes.

"That's the captain of the Fifth division," he heard Margus whispered. "Alberich of the Black Lions."

"You have no where to run now." Alberich spoke with authority. "Surrender the prince now, and you'll be spared of your lives."

"Does that mean…" Kay muttered, with a hint of fear and denial. "We're all that's left of Bretwalde's knights?"

"I'm afraid so…" Margus whispered back.

Serdic's double merely gulped, trying to access the situation. This wasn't supposed to happen at all! Two princes, being seen in the enemy eyes, as clear as day!

"Are you going to comply?" Alberich asked again. "Surely the life of his highness is worth your own survival,"

The double-ganger realized that surely Alberich had no idea which prince was which, and couldn't just take one without clear confirmation. But… he could whether he lied that he was the real heir or say he would give up the real prince, it would ultimately decide the prime target. But, even so, if he would be so stubborn to protect Prince Serdic, he would die before they got that chance. These soldiers were highly trained and being surrounded by them, coupled with being in the presence of a general, didn't ease his worries. He could only see one way the prince could get out of this.

"If you have the prince, would you leave everyone else in this kingdom alone?"

Those words the blonde man spoke shocked Kay and Margus. They had idea what he was planning to do, and didn't like it one bit.

"My orders were merely to retrieve the Prince, with force if necessary." Alberich explained. "I see no reason to continue fighting after completing my objective."

"I see." Serdic's double smiled, glancing at the real Serdic's resting head. _Forgive me your highness._

Margus was still in shock, but Kay was downright fuming. He was already tightening the reins to his horse, ready to stampede over the traitorous man who-

…gave the Prince to Margus?

Shocked and confused to more turns of events, the knight could only dumbly accept the limb body of whom they know is the prince (for he wore the same black robes they saw him for his father's funeral the morning earlier). They would be scratching their heads for the rest of the day after hearing what the man said next.

"I am Prince Serdic of Bretwalde. I ask in return of my surrender, that you spare my troops."

* * *

After Kay and Margus left in the destination Alberich told them to follow, he escorted the 'prince' outside the main gate, planning to ride the whole way back to Grand Meir. To say they were surprised to see the emperor's personal army arrive right at Egvard's doorstep would be an understatement.

With the waving the gryphon flag overhead, hundreds of soldiers surrounded the area in camps and tents, talking and training amongst themselves. As Alberich arrived to the campsite, several musketeer-classed knights approached his unit, dismounted him off his horse, and escorted the Black Lion and the double to the main camp.

Just inside the obviously large tent stood three figures; the furthest to the right was an old looking man, with grey hair lightly covering his scalp, a thick beard and a small mustache. His body was covered in black and gold armor, holding a giant shield in his left hand. He's the general of Second Division; Matthias of the Gold Lions.

The one to the left was a woman, likely to be in her thirties. She had a suit of dark red armor and red hair partially bundled up hair to match it. Her skin was slightly tan, her lips were full, and she had a small mole under her left eye. Another dot was seen on her left breast, partially exposed in the armor. Her body was quite shapely and attractive, too. This beautiful, yet dastardly woman was Clotho, of the Third Division's Red Lions.

Finally, the man in center was Emperor Gauss himself, leader of all of Grand Meir, and his own military unit of First Division. He stood tall, proud and regal as always, downed in his royal red and purple battle armor. His face showed clearly his age, with a stern face and growing goatee, but still with a spark of youth brighter than Matthias. On either side of his thighs were twin blades, equal in long length and fine craftsmanship.

"I have brought the prince Serdic of Bretwalde, your majesty." Alberich said as he genuflects to his superior.

Gauss stares at the young 'prince', his eyes calculating and piercing. 'Serdic' felt uncomfortable in his gaze, not for fear of being exposed. He and the real prince had an uncanny resemblance. It was more of the man's power, his presence, and his killer intent. He couldn't so much as twitch a finger from his stare.

"Did you encounter knights during your _mission_?" Clotho asked, feeling the need to tease Alberich a bit.

The young general, however, kept his face straight and impassive as always. "All knights we encountered showed resistance and were defeated. The prince, however, offered himself in exchange to the lives of the last few knights escorting him."

"You let them escape?" Matthias asked, surprised.

"My objective was to retrieve the prince at all costs; nothing else. I felt it was best not to rid Bretwalde of all their knights. If my intuition is correct, they'll flee south, for the Shalem Federation. They're the closest to go if they seek hospitality."

"To Shalem…" Gauss repeated as he stroked his chin. Never once did his gaze leave the blonde double in the room. Then, his face broke out to a full smirk. "I suppose it was a good thing I let Ernest go, then."

"Pardon me, your majesty?" Alberich asked, confused. The double also felt surprised from this statement.

"Shortly after you left," Gauss continued. "Ernest was throwing a fit about 'being left behind'. He was relentless about a mission he felt he should have took part of. For the sake of my soldiers and everyone's sanity, I let him go in to give some knights and mages some exercise."

"But sire! We have the prince right here! There's no reason to exterminate all the knights! Wasn't the purpose of this battle was to unify Bretwalde with Grand Meir?"

Serdic's double remained silent, trying to process what he just heard. He noticed Alberich never mentioned that there was another similar looking prince among that group. For whatever reason, he was glad for that. Still, what he said didn't make sense. What did he mean 'unify Bretwalde with Grand Meir'?

"It is simple tactics, Sir Alberich." Gauss said, stepping forward. "In order to make all neighboring countries whole, we need to prove they need a strong founder, a strong leader. However, since all of them are too stubborn to step up, it falls under Grand Meir's responsibility to do that for them.

"But if we are to prove to them we are the strongest, we need to defeat one of the other strong countries first. The Kingdom of Bretwalde is the strongest without fail, known for its history of the legendary Holy King Altrius. It also supports strong ties with every other country, including the Holy Nation of Verona.

"We are close now; we have killed nearly all their soldiers and have the prince at our feet. We just need to weed out the last of his followers and find the princess next! Once we finish that, Bretwalde will be no more, and we'll prove to every country on Bravord that we shall be united under Grand Meir's rule!"

Gauss ended his monologue with a deep, menacing laugh, shocking both Alberich and the double. Matthias looked sad, somewhat distant, and Clotho looked indifferent as if expected. After the menacing laugh, the Grand Meir Emperor stared down at the 'prince'.

"Now, as for you," he said as he drew his left blade. "I'm afraid that we won't be meeting like this again. Farewell, _Prince Serdic_."

* * *

"Is this the way?" Kay asked as his horse galloped down. Margus followed steadily behind, carrying the real prince on his shoulders.

"I believe so. Alberich told us that the other way had another army out and waiting by the south gate, and the only other way out is the west gate. At least we can still get to Shalem from here."

"B-but…" Kay stuttered, kind of nervous. "What not Cale? They're our allies too, and it's not very far from here."

Margus sighed. Of course, he knew the _real _reason Kay brought it up, and couldn't but help to agree with him. But Cale was built to be a town that would protect and assist Bretwald should it face an emergency, like having its own backup army. But they didn't come, so that would mean one thing.

"I'm afraid that Cale wouldn't be much help to us, if they didn't come to our aid sooner. And even if they haven't fallen to Grand Meir, it's within the Grand Central plains. We wouldn't be expected to regroup there if we could be overwhelmed just a few feet from their main forces. The further we are from the Empire, the better."

"You can't expect us to keep running from them!" Kay snapped.

"We can't expect to regroup in Cale as opposed to Shalem, either." Margus countered. Seeing Kay drop his gaze, the older knight sighed. "Look, I know you're worried about Alicia. I am too. But given the circumstances, it would be too dangerous to go and rescue her on the case it might be some sort of trap."

"But she's our friend! The three of us all grew up together! How could even suggest we abandon her like this?"

Suddenly, Margus bashed the side of the horse with his shield, causing it to stop abruptly. Kay was caught off-guard and lost balance, falling to the opposite side of the horse. He didn't get up before he found Margus's Sentinel spear pointed at him. His normally calm face now looked threatening.

"Listen here." He spoke in all seriousness. "I care as much for Alicia as you do, probably even more; however, you lack to understand that we can't just rush in with spears charging! Grand Meir has now more or less dominated the Bretwalde kingdom and since Cale didn't even offer a finger of support, they must be overruled as well. We got off lucky because of that young man's sacrifice, because whoever he is, he wished the prince's well being high above his own! How do you think he would feel if the prince and his last two vassals of this kingdom died as a means of charging into enemy territory unprepared?

"We lost enough brave soldiers as it is from this ambush! Like or not, Kay, we're all that's left, and we have a duty to remain truthful to Prince Serdic's side. We can't let personal feelings cloud our judgment, even for childhood friends."

The whole time, Kay was silent, trying not to look at Margus's piercing gaze. The older knight was always like a mentor to him, always advising him against rushing in without thinking. Yet he would always listen to Margus because the both of them knew he was the voice of reason for most knights.

Eventually, the white knight sighed and returned Margus's gaze. "You're right. Not even Alicia would want me to do something so stupid."

The sentinel suddenly smiled and pulled his spear away. "I'm glad you finally see reason, Kay."

"But we save her whenever it is most convenient!"

Margus smiled even broader. "Of course, that is a promise."

With that, the two of them exchanged hands; partly to confirm their promise, but mostly to help the younger knight up from the ground.

"Just a little further, my friend," Margus assured as Kay got back on his horse. "We'll be out of here before you-"

"Stop right there, Bretwaldean cowards!"

Both knights froze from a sudden declaration. Just in front of the gate, they spotted at three orange-clad knights rushing their way, downing green lion banner crests on their shoulder pads. Not far behind them were two mages, wearing flowing blue robes and large red hats. Just in front of those mages was Ernest of the Green Lions.

He had the face of a maniac; his face was twisted in a sinister smirk, with think brown hair falling down his head unevenly in thin strips. He wore a green chest plate with a cape flowing down to his feet, and under it he wore a simple grey robe. Instead of a staff, he carried a sword in his hand, and is known to be one of the few who can wield weapons AND cast magic.

"Hand over the prince and your lives will be spared," He said in a confident and cynical tone. He held his free hand out as if to emphasize his point.

Kay glared, steadying his spear as Margus held his shield in place. "Not on your life!" the white knight declared.

"Well, I tried," Ernest shrugged, but didn't seem too disappointed in that. "Take them, men!"

"Looks like we'll have to fight," Margus said sagely. All the while he tucked Serdic's body close to his.

Kay smirked. "Hey, at least it's half of what was chasing us earlier."

The first wave of soldiers rushed through with hammers waved high. Being the expert horsemen, Kay ran around the knights in circles, timely striking through the chinks of their armor, all the while narrowly dodging the swings. Margus didn't rush in the fear of keeping the prince safe, and watched Kay do all the fighting. During which, he didn't notice a knight sneaking up from behind until his fellow comrade pointed it out.

"Margus! Look out!"

Hearing the younger's knight cry was enough for Margus to swing around with his shield up and block the charging, hammering strike. Upon hitting the shield, the knight felt aftershock and lost all momentum of continuing the attack. Shocked and confused, the knight had no time to protect himself when Kay charged in horse first. The knight turned around just in time to find the Einher Jar spear pierce through the gap of his helmet, and impaling the knight's head. The imperial knight couldn't muffle even a scream as the spear tore through his flesh and kept moving to cleaving his head right off. The knight was surely dead after that.

"That's the way, Kay!" Margus cheered, swinging his spear around to repel two of the knights closing in.

"Hmm, these knights are better then I expected." Ernest murmured to himself, watching the Bretwalde knights fight. They were no mere amateurs; they held enough confidence to fight against opposing odds, but enough skill to know how to effectively fight. But, that was only in a fight between swords.

They had no chance in a battle of magic.

The leader of the Fourth Division lifted his sword at pointed to the knights. "STRIKE THEM DOWN!"

The mages behind him started chanting, their bodies radiating a green glow as the sound of static became audible. One cue, the skies became dark and green electrical bolts ran down from the sky.

"Heads up!" Margus cried, but neither knight could dodge the bolts in time, Margus was just barely able to throw the Prince away before he got struck too.

Ernest smirked as he watched the knights screamed in pain; numbness, shock, all that and more through the feeling of Thunder Magic. The knights would be fools to try and retaliate to him.

"Now then, I'll just take the Prince off your hands…" Ernest smirked. With the knights down and at his mercy, nothing was stopping him from just walking over and picking the prince up. Now he might finally get some respect and prove he was better than that fool Alberich.

Unfortunately for him, Margus knew his weakness. "I-is that your best shot?" he coughed.

Ernest scoffed, still walking over to Serdic. "You seem to be-no, _must _be naïve if you think I would waste my best magic on weakling knights such as yourself."

Margus weakly smiled. "I'm sorry… there was better magic than that? I thought that last one was all you could do."

Ernest stopped in his tracks, his back towards all the other knights. If anyone were to look at his face, they would see him shocked, while steadily seething in rage.

"Oh, that's right," Margus continued cheekily, though still in pain. "That was _your_ mages doing the work there. They must be close to becoming leaders of their own squadrons."

"They're just foot soldiers!" The Green Lion snapped angrily. "I personally chose them because I knew you Bretwaldean idiots couldn't stand a magical assault from even my novices!"

"It sounds to me like the Green Lion is slacking off, letting his lackeys do all the work."

"Margus, what are you doing?" Kay whispered frantically. Every time Margus opened his mouth, he was doing nothing but getting Ernest mad.

"You clearly have no idea what I'm capable of!" The wizard yelled. His face was now scrunched in sheer hate, and green energy was starting to crackle around him like static.

One of the magicians started to notice this behavior and rushed over to the sword-wielding mage. "M-master Ernest! Please calm down!"

Margus still smiled like a smug bastard, despite the worries of Kay and the knights of the Fourth Division. "Oh, believe me; I do know what you're capable of. I'm aware that the Green Lion is nothing more than a cub in a lion pack who's all bark but no bite, and can't even conjure anything more then a raincloud."

That did it; Ernest's rage was beyond measure as his energy crackled with uncontrollable rage. "I'LL MAKE YOU REGRET THOSE WORDS, BRETWALDEAN MAGGOT! I'LL MAKE YOU REGRET THE DAY YOU EVER MOCKED ME!"

"Master Ernest! Please control yourself! You'll destroy us all!" The soldiers all cried, fearing for what was coming. Alas, Ernest's rage was focused entirely on the sentinel and white knight.

"You should feel privileged to witness this power," He began, swirling with more electrical energy then thought possible. "This is more then just a spell; it is a power awakened by my own will, capable of destroying everything in its path. It will ultimately end your pathetic lives, for this is my Over Break!"

The Green Lion shot his hand into the air and the whole sky was shrouded in darkness, with the faint sounds of thunder and hissing evident. "COME FORTH! **TWISTED FURY!**"

* * *

"Farewell, _Prince Serdic_."

Just as Gauss was about to strike the double down right there, a rumbling was heard. Gauss hesitated, and then jumped back as a bolt of lightning struck when he once stood. The lightning bolt had pierced through the tent, and sparks started to burn it down, revealing a blackened sky and constant booming thunder. The emperor showed only slight annoyance while his generals expressed shock and worry.

"What in the world?" Alberich cried.

Before any more thought could be put into that discussion, a soldier rushed into the tent, in a manner that could be described as fearful and frantic. So much that he seemed to have forgotten his manners as when he was about to say something, he stopped and bowed before his superiors before continuing.

"Emperor Gauss!" He said, trying to compose his fearful tone. "It's an emergency! Lightning is striking down our camp!" As if to prove the knight's warning, loud booms echoed and the cries of pain were heard. It sounded like complete carnage outside, but in reality it was just a chaotic thunderstorm.

"I can see that," Gauss frowned, hand still firm on his sword.

"It was just a sunny day too," The knight continued. "But then the sky turned dark and the clouds, well… they sounded like they were hissing, sire."

"Hissing…" Clotho frowned. "You don't think…?"

"Who else?" Matthias answered grumpily. "Apparently he never understood the term 'overkill', despite his 'intellect'."

Alberich clenched his fists. "Ernest, you fool."

Gauss frowned deeper, clearly disappointed as he tried to ignore the raining thunder. He casually side stepped from his position as another bolt attempted to strike him. "How much is lost already?"

"Sire, aside from the one we are in now, several tents are ablaze, including armory and food supplies. Knights are dropping one by one from the lightning, and some of the light armored soldiers are suffering fatal injuries, all including strong electrical sho-AAAH!" The knight cowered as a bolt aimed for him. He was spared when Matthias, with surprising speed for his age and bulk, shielded him with his own body before it could hit. A small grunt was all that was let out.

"That's Ernest, alright," Clotho sighed, indifferent to Matthias' rescue.

"Should we evacuate?" Alberich asked as he tended to the knight and his savior. Gauss stood there, contemplating on the situation as the flames grew before answering.

"We have done what we came to do here. Evacuate any supplies possible, especially the medicines. Have spare soldier carry any of the wounded. Round up any horses before we loose all of them. We'll evacuate to the south. Also, we'll need an envoy to tell Ernest to meet us at the Shalem Federation."

"To Shalem, sire?" Alberich questioned. "But isn't that where the Bretwalde soldiers are going? They're allies with the Kingdom."

"That's precisely why we'll head there." Gauss said matter-of-factly. "We would want to make sure that the soldiers don't give Shalem any ideas of resisting. The fewer nations and military troops that retaliate at us, the closer we are to achieving union. Swiftly crushing any newly growing rebellion is the key to our success.

"More importantly, I made a deal with the head of the Ga tribe. Jaglat, I believe. He was quite adamant to my envoy that he refused at first, but grew over to wanting my support. He gets his place to rule the Federation, and we get an early supporter for our union. He was intentionally supposed to be on the lookout for any movement of the Bretwalde family, but I'm sure he won't reject our 'offer' for hospitality."

"Speaking of Bretwalde family members," Clotho said, with a hint of surprise and shock, as she stared at the space in front of Gauss. "Our prisoner escaped."

All male knights looked down to find her telling the truth.

* * *

The double was fortunate the lightning came in when it did. When everyone was busy discussing the situation, he slipped away and made for the tent exit before the fire burned everything away. However, he couldn't help but to stop and hide behind some of the inflammable décor in the tent when he heard about the group regrouping to Shalem. He remained there when the others just discovered that he was missing.

"Search the perimeter!" He heard Gauss shout. "Don't let the prince escape!"

He then heard the stomping of feet rush outside, leaving the room silent. The prince only gazed out from behind the sword case to find the room deserted. The only sounds heard were frantic knights and thunderclaps.

"I have to find Prince Serdic and warn him," The double decided. Doing a quick scan of the room, he found only one thing worth taking; a copy of the map of Bravord tucked within one of the crates. Without hesitation, he snuffed it out, rolled it up and put it in the space between his armor.

When he ran outside coughing (when the tent was mostly burnt out as well), he found the camp just as the knight described it; thunder was striking down almost as fast as rain, hitting all around the camp. Some knights were frantically rushing over to tents and carrying what they could as they ran to the woods. Others carried themselves on their shoulders or stretchers, following the same group down south. The rest were fidgeting with the horses, as too many were running about in the lightning to be managed, but some, like Alberich, were able to.

That gave the 'prince' an idea.

He ran through the campsite, not worrying about hiding himself, but rather worrying about the thunder. All of the soldiers were too busy trying to escape to care about him otherwise. He looked for nothing but a runaway horse. Fortune would have it that one was about to pass him but stopped itself when lightning struck at the ground between them.

Taking this chance, he grabbed the reins still on the horse and jerked it. The horse still neighed, but was in the process of calming down. Serdic had taught him a lot of things to handle himself; that included horse riding, swordplay, archery, even cooking and survival tactics.

"Hey!" A knight called out, rushing to the horse. The prince's double, remembering he still carried Serdic's sword, swung the blade at the knight's chest. The cut damaged his armor and staggered him, just long enough to be struck by a lightning blast and falling down unconscious.

Taking up to reins, Serdic whipped them once and kicked the horse before riding off to the west, away from the storm, Grand Meir… and Egvard.

* * *

When the storm finally subsided, buildings were in ruin, the streets were desolate, and any soldiers still in the area were struck dead. The civilians living in Egvard dared not to step outside, even if they were mostly protected in the safety of their homes. The only sound heard was a howling wind, and a howling laughter.

The only man standing, and the only one laughing, was the Green Lion Ernest, surrounded by the dead bodies of his own soldiers, all electrocuted.

"I told you!" He shouted with glee. "I told you that you'd regret that you mocked me! And here I am! Still standing superior! You Bretwaldeans are nothing but footsteps to my genius!"

His laughter continued in his blissful ignorance. It would continue until he found out that the bodies of Margus and Kay (along with the horse) are nowhere to be seen, along with the fact that the prince's body was gone too.

And it would be Margus having the last laugh; for his sheer stupidity.


End file.
